I’m not the only one who has been rejected from the Australian Defence Force for no particular reason:

Mat Houston, 28, from Coolum Beach, on the Sunshine Coast, said the Australian Army advised him 12 months ago that he had been accepted.

But on April 11 he received a rejection letter from the Defence Force Recruiting Organisation just one day after getting his final congratulatory acceptance letter.

The rejection letter blamed Mr Houston’s neck tattoo, which he says represents his Chinese birthmark plus a lotus flower, which he had done about two years ago and which extends slightly above his collar line.

“Apparently they (tattoos) are not allowed to be seen,” Mr Houston said.

When I was waiting to be called in the 6-10 hours of testing I undertook during my application, I passed the time reading a bit of ADF literature.

A common theme seemed to be the frustration in losing so many capable, trained employees to the private sector.

Maybe it wouldn’t be such a big problem if they didn’t keep rejecting people for reasons like this.

I happened to be hanging around Fremantle today when the USS Constellation arrived, as part of a group of 4 US Navy ships in Perth this week.

There were 2 protestors present that I saw, one a fat woman in a wheelchair plastered with anti-everything stickers.

One of the signs had the following message: “END THE US-AUSTRALIAN ALLIANCE”. Now there’s a bright spark.

Apart from those 2 morons, there were present approxiamately 25 prostitutes and/or brothel madams, who lined the exit ramp of the passenger terminal and handed out business cards and brochures to every man who walked off.

There were so many people soliciting there, some of the guys were coming down the bridge buckling under the weight of the advertising paraphenalia. Most of it ended up in the bin or on the road.

I was pretty impressed with how polite the sailors were, considering they had literally just walked off the boat. I’d at least want a chance to get my bearings.

For those interested in such things (Such as fellow Gweilo fans) the prostitutes ranged from extremely cute, young, Thai girls, to old, tattoed, Kalgoorlie ferals. I’m not familiar with the intricacies of the sex market, but I’m guessing the second type are much, much cheaper.

Anyway, I doubt any of the sailors will be taking R+R time to read this, but I hope you guys enjoy yourselves.

EDIT: This post somehow got saved under my name – Yobbo wrote it. I’ve never been anywhere near Fremantle.